I apply the Teachings of Abraham to my life and get into the Vortex regularly. The Vortex Diary documents these visits in the hopes of uplifting and inspiring myself and others to make the Vortex our first and final destination each and every day.

Friday, May 27, 2011

After a delicious interaction with my friend last night, I have been mostly in the Vortex. I got to catch up with the wondrous life that she has created filled with love and exploration and expansion. And I got to relate stories I had not told her yet of the amazing relationship my brother and I have forged despite the fact that we reside thousands of miles apart. She helped me appreciate this huge gift with her reaction and appreciation of the stories I told. Really fun!

Today, it turns out, is the day we must choose the color for our kitchen and dining room. I started to do that thing that I do when I remembered that we can't get it wrong. I was in my car listening to the same CD (Mexican Riviera Cruise/2009) I've been listening to and, as usual, Abraham has sneaked in and added material that wasn't there before. I got swept into the Vortex and saw the most magnificent tree I've ever seen as if for the first time. It is gigantic and beautiful and it grows along a busy street and it's been there all along, I suspect. Or maybe I just created it (I did have access to the power that creates worlds, after all, since I was in the Vortex) so that I would have something gigantic and beautiful to appreciate. Either way, it caused a lovely swelling feeling in the region of my heart which I can feel right now as I see that gorgeous tree in my mind. I'm still in the Vortex, you see, because after getting swept in and after seeing such a gorgeous sight, I just milked it, baby. I milked it for all it is worth.

I had already visited the paint store and found easy answers to all my questions. I had all my art journaling "equipment" with me and I decided to go to Borders and play for a while. Last time I was there I was OOV* and couldn't find even one new art or craft book. Today I pulled a stack so large, I could not get through it in one sitting (abundance). The first book I looked at and the first project I saw in that book hooked me. It was a little birdcage with a painted cardstock base and painted galvanized wires for the bars. I had recently attracted a set of watercolor pencils from a thrift store and I happened to have some watercolor paper with me and I began to play with those cooperative component. I even decided that I was going to draw that birdcage somehow and write down the instructions. I put my earphones on and cued up "Beyond Words", an incredible album by Bobby McFerrin. The cuts with Chick Corea are completely and unutterably Vortextual. Those musicians have given me hours and hours of easy entry into the Vortex with the cooperating that they are doing to create music that had never been before. Listen:

For me, music and making art go hand in hand. There is a synergy that occurs and I'm just sure I'm opening up new territory in my neocortex as my axons and dendrites learn and teach and make new connections. I'm reading that book on the brain and discovering so many fun facts: Each neuron has one axon (root) and up to 100,000 dendrites (branches). The axon sends information (teaches) and the dendrites receive information (learn). There are more ways to connect the neurons in one brain than there are atoms in the Universe! (1)

What?!?

This book is 10 years old, but is dedicated to Temple Grandin and seems pretty interesting. I love to think about such things as I'm involved in a task. I love to think about thinking. I love to observe or reflect upon how my own brain works. When I'm learning anything I've set out to learn, I'm usually in the Vortex. But that's a tangent--I was writing about the synergy of music and making art. And Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea made it possible for me to draw that cage once, see the problems with that drawing and, because I was already in the Vortex and because I was milking it and because I had added the music, decide that it would be FUN and CHALLENGING to draw it over again. The neocortex loves nothing better than problem-solving. If we can avoid frustration (negative emotion), our thoughts don't drag us into old patterns and the positive, directed, focused thinking can come on like gangbusters. I had one weak little negative thought and then I was happily drawing my second birdcage. Here's what's so cool!!!! There was a problem with that drawing! When I began to apply metallic watercolor paint to the wires in the drawing, the India ink I had used began to run. It was kind of a neat little drawing. Another weak little negative thought tried to get my attention, but I was appreciating Chick Corea's amazing chord structures and progressions, and it just couldn't take root. I searched and found the one truly waterproof pen I had with me and I started again. By drawing the cage 3 times, I could probably build it in my sleep. In fact, I may dream about it tonight.

Here's the little cage I will be building.

Another reason I feel wonderful today, I believe, is that last night before beginning my slumber, I thought about who I would like at my round table to help me learn photography. (See Vortex Diary: Esme and Sofie/May 25, 2011/Invisible Counselor Technique) I decided to invite Henri Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, and my brother-in-law. I didn't use my new camera today, but I did take some pictures with my phone and they turned out well.

But wait, there's more! My phone tweets when I get a notification (email, text, voicemail). I received a nice surprise when I followed up on one tweet today. A wonderful YouTuber, vibrationsrus, had replied to a message I sent her about linking to her YouTube clip on May 18th ("OOVHissyFit" is what I called it in my tinyURL). It was a really nice reply and it led me to look at her channel and to find the following amazing clip that she posted today. I have actually heard a part of this excerpt before, or maybe I heard the whole thing, because I remember the question and the questioner. But today Iheard it from the Vortex and it really hit me and answered so many of my questions:

I'm loving being a cooperative component in your quest to get into the Vortex, to stay in longer, and to start noticing all the evidence of your higher vibration. Life is supposed to be good and it begins with making peace with where we are by appreciating what is and being eager for more. My fabulous partner is in the next room playing guitar and I'm really appreciating that.

I grow weary. It's 10:10 PM and I haven't chosen a picture for this post yet. It's been a fabulous day and I think I might have enough energy to take the picture I'm envisioning.**

*OOV=Out of the Vortex **I did take the picture of the cage I drew. But I did it this morning.

(1) Ratey, John G. 2001 A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention and the Four Theaters of the Brain. Pantheon Books, New York, NY.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Well, I've never done this before, but I'm blogging about the my last blogpost published just an hour ago or so. I am still in the Vortex and still in comfy warm clothes because construction guys are letting plaster on arch and sheet rock dry and so I'm alone in my house (a rare event during the remodel). I finally surfed back to Homebuiltindoorplane's YouTube clip about the 13 hawks and began listening. I'm just tickled that the whole excerpt is about alignment, cooperative components, gifts from the Universe and lining up with deliciousness all day every day. That lines up so sublimely with today's post and with the impulse to add the link to the 13 hawks without listening to it first. It's just more goosebumpy goodness directly from Source. AND it give me a reason to show one of the photos I took in my bathroom yesterday. It's all so much fun. Leaves me, as anonymous commenter said on one of the posts, appreciating what is and eager for more. Loving this day (I've been tweeting and keep leaving out pronouns) and wish the same for you all!!!

I almost let these little chicas get away without a picture. I was unloading plants from my car and was aligned with their journey down my street with their dad. I begged for una foto and ran into my house for my new camera. I am very glad that I did.

As I've mentioned before, I have the gift of allowing incredible stuff into my life. I often hear a call to a particular store only to wander around and wonder what exactly it is I'm there to find. Sometimes just as I'm about to give up, I find the object that is valuable or interesting or fulfills a purpose of some kind (that's how I found a vase that I sold for $700). That's also how I recently came across "A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention and the Four Theaters of the Brain" by John J. Ratey. In the intro, Ratey writes about Temple Grandin, the renowned inventor, professor and doctor of animal science who is also autistic. I have always been fascinated by this incredible woman and have wanted to understand how her brain operates. In the book, the author relates the story of how Grandin went to a Safeway store and practiced going into the automatic doors repeatedly. She kept this up for weeks until she knew how to do it "normally". The point Ratey is making is that during this type of skill building or training period, our neocortex will actually enlarge during the practice of the skill. After the skill is learned, its control is relegated to another, less crucial region of the brain because it's become more automated. Someone sent me a link to a really cool video on Napolean Hill ("Think and Grow Rich"):

I started thinking of all those I would like to have around my table. Stevie Wonder, for sure. Probably Oprah. And then, because I'd been reading the brain book, I started thinking in terms of skills I'd like to "learn" from the collective consciousness. Photography came to mind, film making and editing, painting, etc.

I had also pulled some old Abraham CD's out to take to my car and I chose one randomly as I was driving around this week. It turned out to be about dreams (Mexican Riviera Cruise/2009, I believe). Abraham suggests that upon awakening, we ask ourselves, "Did I dream?" and "Was it a pleasant or an dream?" If the dream was pleasant and empowering, we can take that to be an indicator that we are doing well in the area that the dream refers to. If it's unpleasant, we can simply understand that this is an area in which we need to lower our resistance or create more allowance. So we might want to do a focus wheel or the like to create the allowing. As I fell asleep the other night, I imagined a few of the people I'd like for advisors, but just for a moment. That's me being a cooperative component in experiencing the integration of the information I'd gathered, which led me to this dream:

I have found a lovely boiled or felted wool garment or blanket which I have decided to make into other things. It is an amazing green color and has many inclusions such as small trees, twigs, tiny blue robin's egg shell fragments, beautiful stones, etc. It resembles a mossy forest floor and I am cutting it up to make pillows. I have a large pair of sharp scissors and as I'm cutting I'm imagining the beautiful and useful cushions that will result. I cut many pieces as I envision my creations. There is plenty of fabric to share. In fact the supply seems limitless. A distant acquaintance whom in my waking life I perceive as critical of me (a little snipey) and very worried about the spiritual path that others are choosing for themselves (a reflection of myself gifted to me by the Universe) is watching me as I work with this abundant supply of green. She comments on the fact that I am not measuring. I think for a moment and then answer confidently that I don't need to measure, because I'm in the Vortex. I offer to share with her as soon as I am finished cutting this one piece. My scissors are huge and I'm cutting and cutting and cutting as I chat with her, but the piece seems to have no end. For a moment, I begin to do that thing that I do. That thing takes me out of the moment, that doubts, that worries what others will think, that judges me, that tells me I might be making a mistake--that I'm probably doing it wrong, that forgets how lovely it is to accept that I am where I am, that stops me from allowing in all the bounty that is in my Vortex, and that temporarily cuts me off from my connection with Source. I just keep cutting and listening for that soft and gentle call of Source that says, "It's all right. All is well. Goodness abounds. The Universe is on your side. Things always work out for me."

And as I relax a bit and let myself just observe the scissors cutting and cutting and cutting some more, I know that I will arrive at the end of the forest floor fabric and I do. I get there and all is well.

When I awaken from the dream I lay in my bed for a bit and basked. I did not analyze the dream at the time, I simply experienced the feeling of it in my body. I also basked in the knowledge that I am "Abraham-ing" in my dreams. I've done this before, but it's been quite some time, so it's good to know that I am applying these teachings in both realms of reality. As I've let the dream steep in my neocortex, I've found a wonderful message of abundance and acceptance is there for me. "You never get it wrong and you never get it done," comes to mind. What a lovely thing to say to myself in my sleep.

As I puttered through my morning yesterday I accomplished a great deal. Each time I felt myself revving into motivation, I'd stop and remember the dream and wander back to seeking inspiration. I got really excited as I cleaned my bathroom, because I saw so many opportunities for pictures. I grabbed my camera, and even though the I was in the middle of cleaning, I stopped and took those pictures. The day brought me many other gifts, one of which was lining up with the beautiful little souls you see in the picture. You can imagine my delight in seeing those beautiful girls coming down my street in that little car with their father lovingly guiding them along sheerly in the pursuit of joy. That's alignment. That's the Vortex.

Another Vortextual note:I'm beginning to hear from my readers in comments and emails and it is DELIGHTFUL. I am thrilled to hear that this blog is affecting people in positive ways. Please know that your comments are VERY much appreciated and that they add fuel to my blogging fire. I am also discovering other bloggers out there who are focusing on the Vortex and on Abraham. One of them is YouTuber, The Happy Jackster, a lovely soul named Jacqueline Paesano from the UK. Here is her blog:

Okay, I am in this moment experiencing a really nice pairing of synchronous events. As I was about to end the post, I felt it would be nice to include another YouTube link. I went to my subscriptions page and noticed that Homebuiltindoorplane has uploaded a couple of clips while I've been writing. Yikes! One of them is entitled "She Wants To Know What Seeing 13 Hawks Is All About". The blog readers who've been with me from the beginning may recall a post from December that I called "The Twelve Hawks Of Christmas":

http://vortexdiary.blogspot.com/2010/12/twelve-hawks-of-christmas.htmlI loved the coincidence of finding an Abraham clip from one of my favorite YouTubers that is so close to something I've written about. Well, I thought, this is just too rich, I'm going to post this without even hearing it--just because. As I wrote the first line of this little tangent, I decided to document the time. Right after I wrote the words "in this moment", I looked at the time. As yet another indicator of alignment, the Universe gave me a little digital wink from the corner of my computer. "It's 10:10 AM," it giggled.